I understand I will be downvoted for this, but don't you think you should tip more? I don't know where you live, but I do know in the US drivers depend on tip income and when you don't tip sufficiently it really hurts them.
Also why tip someone for a job I'm capable of doing myself? I can deliver food. I can drive a taxi. I can, and do, cut my own hair. I did however, tip my urologist, because I am unable to pulverize my own kidney stones..
People who refuse to tip out of "principle" but also refuse to do anything to change the existing situation are just as guilty of exploiting workers as the employees who rely on tips are.
stop demonizing the individual here - it's the companies that are skirting around the well established law. individuals are not capable of raking these businesses over the coals; that's what the government is, honestly, explicitly supposed to do.
Don't get me wrong, I hate tipping too. But it's disingenuous to describe it as charity when our legal system has made it legal to deprive workers of a wage because of an assumption that people will tip. So we should. And should support all efforts to remove the absurd loophole from the law.
And in addition, most employers need to pay minimum wage if the tips don’t bring it up to that.
Exactly. Such laws means that for low-paying workers, tipping is a gift to the employer, not to the worker.
Have you ever talked to a real person about that theory? Do you really think that a nationwide unemployment level applies equally to people in all parts of the country, with all levels of education? Do you really, really think that people dissatisfied with their jobs just need to be less lazy and apply for more jobs? How many people do you actually know in this situation?
Do you think people for some strange reason absolutely love these minimal wage jobs, and just stick to them, despite the pay? Or maybe, could you consider that minimal wage workers don't have as much economic power as you think they do...
(Do you have any friends making minimal wage?)
The IRS disagrees with you - https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc761
I stopped tipping around the time the tipped minimum wage became the standard minimum wage.
I thought Uber and Lyft drivers weren't employees? Even if they were, that "legal loophole" isn't a federal thing, it only exists in certain states. Where I live, the minimum wage for tipped and untipped employees is the same. I still tip, but if I tip less than 20% I know that the workers are still making a floor of $15/hour.
Additionally, it's still illegal for an employer to let you end up below federal minimum wage, tipped or not. But shady places are happy to steal from their employees.
I have no dog in this fight, and know too little to have a valid response. I just find that tips being necessary for the waiter/driver to survive a strange concept. Not being able to count on a fixed income has to be tough.
Speaking of dogs, it’s time to rewatch Reservoir Dogs.
Real truth: most likely than not, they are making a killing with tips, much more than they would make with a fair salary.
Especially considering that the employer is obliged to pay them minimum wage anyways if they don’t receive enough tips.
The myth of the waiter not meeting ends is hard to believe when a decent waiter can pull in $200-500 (minimum) per night in a decent restaurant.
No one I knew would have traded their tip money for $15 an hour.